Dark Reunion

'But didn't you—?' Stefan turned to her quickly. 'Bonnie, didn't you hear what Elena said at the end?'

'No. What do you mean? I couldn't hear anything; there was a slight hurricane going on at the time.'

'Bonnie…' Stefan's eyes went distant with speculation and he spoke as if to himself. 'That means that he probably didn't hear it either. So he doesn't know, and he won't try to stop us.'

'From what? Stefan, what are you talking about?'

'From finding a victim. Listen, Bonnie, Elena told me that if we can find a surviving victim of Klaus's, we can find a way to stop him.'

Bonnie was in completely over her head. 'But… why?'

'Because vampires and their donors—their prey—share minds briefly while the blood is being exchanged. Sometimes the donor can learn things about the vampire that way. Not always, but occasionally. That's what must have happened, and Elena knows it.'

'That's all very well and good—except for one small thing,' Bonnie said tartly. 'Will you please tell me who on earth could have survived an attack by Klaus?'

She expected Stefan to be deflated, but he wasn't. 'A vampire,' he said simply. 'A human Klaus made into a vampire would qualify as a victim. As long as they've exchanged blood, they've touched minds.'

'Oh. Oh. So… if we can find a vampire he's made… but where?'

'Maybe in Europe.' Stefan began to pace around the room, his eyes narrowed. 'Klaus has a long history, and some of his vampires are bound to be there. I may have to go and look for one.'

Bonnie was utterly dismayed. 'But Stefan, you can't leave us. You can't!'

Stefan stopped where he was, across the room, and stood very still. Then at last, he turned to face her. 'I don't want to,' he said quietly. 'And we'll try to think of another solution first—maybe we can get hold of Tyler again. I'll wait a week, until next Saturday. But I may have to leave, Bonnie. You know that as well as I do.'

There was a long, long silence between them.

Bonnie fought the heat in her eyes, determined to be grown up and mature. She wasn't a baby and she would prove that now, once and for all. She caught Stefan's gaze and slowly nodded.

THIRTEEN

June 19, Friday, 11:45 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Oh, God, what are we going to do?

This has been the longest week of my life. Today was the last day of school and tomorrow Stefan is leaving. He's going to Europe to search for a vampire who got changed by Klaus. He says he doesn't want to leave us unprotected. But he's going to go.

We can't find Tyler. His car disappeared from the cemetery, but he hasn't turned up at school. He's missed every final this week. Not that the rest of us are doing much better. I wish Robert E. Lee was like the schools that have all their finals before graduation. I don't know whether I'm writing English or Swahili these days.

I hate Klaus. From what I saw he's as crazy as Katherine—and even crueler. What he did to Vickie—but I can't even talk about that or I'll start crying again. He was just playing with us at Caroline's party, like a cat with a mouse. And to do it on Meredith's birthday, too—although I suppose he couldn't have known that. He seems to know a lot, though. He doesn't talk like a foreigner, not like Stefan did when he first came to America, and he knows all about American things, even songs from the fifties. Maybe he's been over here for a while…

Bonnie stopped writing. She thought desperately. All this time, they had been thinking of victims in Europe, of vampires. But from the way Klaus talked, he had obviously been in America a long time. He didn't sound foreign at all. And he'd chosen to attack the girls on Meredith's birthday…

Bonnie got up, reached for the telephone, and called Meredith's number. A sleepy male voice answered.

'Mr. Sulez, this is Bonnie. Can I speak to Meredith?'

'Bonnie! Don't you know what time it is?'

'Yes.' Bonnie thought quickly. 'But it's about—about a final we had today. Please, I have to talk with her.'

There was a long pause, then a heavy sigh. 'Just a minute.'

Bonnie tapped her fingers impatiently as she waited. At last there was the click of another phone being picked up.

'Bonnie?' came Meredith's voice. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing. I mean—' Bonnie was excruciatingly conscious of the open line, of the fact that Meredith's father hadn't hung up. He might be listening. 'It's about—that German problem we've been working on. You remember. The one we couldn't figure out for the final. You know how we've been looking for the one person who can help us solve it? Well, I think I know who it is.'

'You do?' Bonnie could sense Meredith scrambling for the right words. 'Well—who is it? Does it involve any long-distance calls?'

'No,' Bonnie said, 'it doesn't. It hits a lot closer to home, Meredith. A lot. In fact, you could say it's right in your own backyard, hanging on your family tree.'

The line was silent so long Bonnie wondered if Meredith was still there. 'Meredith?'

'I'm thinking. Does this solution have anything to do with coincidence?'

'Nope.' Bonnie relaxed and smiled slightly, grimly. Meredith had it now. 'Not a thing to do with coincidence. It's more a case of history repeating itself. Deliberately repeating itself, if you see what I mean.'

'Yes,' Meredith said. She sounded as if she were recovering from a shock, and no wonder. 'You know, I think you just may be right. But there's still the matter of persuading—this person—to actually help us.'

'You think that may be a problem?'

'I think it could. Sometimes people get very rattled—about a test. Sometimes they even kind of lose their minds.'

Bonnie's heart sank. This was something that hadn't occurred to her. What if he couldn't tell them? What if he were that far gone?

'All we can do is try,' she said, making her voice as optimistic as possible. 'Tomorrow we'll have to try.'

'All right. I'll pick you up at noon. Good night, Bonnie.'

'Night, Meredith.' Bonnie added, 'I'm sorry.'

'No, I think it may be for the best. So that history doesn't continue to repeat itself forever. Good-bye.'

Bonnie pressed the disconnect button on the handset, clicking it off. Then she just sat for a few minutes, her finger on the button, staring at the wall. Finally she replaced the handset in its cradle and picked up her diary again. She put a period on the last sentence and added a new one.

We are going to see Meredith's grandfather tomorrow.

'I'm an idiot,' Stefan said in Meredith's car the next day. They were going to West Virginia, to the institution where Meredith's grandfather was a patient. It was going to be a fairly long drive.

'We're all idiots. Except Bonnie,' Matt said. Even in the midst of her anxiety Bonnie felt a warm glow at that.

But Meredith was shaking her head, eyes on the road. 'Stefan, you couldn't have realized, so stop beating up on yourself. You didn't know that Klaus attacked Caroline's party on the anniversary of the attack on my grandfather. And it didn't occur to Matt or me that Klaus could have been in America for so long because we never saw Klaus or heard him speak. We were thinking of people he could have attacked in Europe. Really, Bonnie was the only one who could have put it all together, because she had all the information.'

Bonnie stuck out her tongue. Meredith caught it in the rearview mirror and arched an eyebrow. 'Just don't want you getting too cocky,' she said.

'I won't; modesty is one of my most charming qualities,' Bonnie replied.

Matt snorted, but then he said, 'I still think it was pretty smart,' which started the glow all over again.